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Former Greeley investment broker John Guyette was ordered on Monday to spend the next year on house arrest and the next decade on probation after he was convicted of 15 counts of securities fraud.

More than a dozen people spoke on behalf of Guyette at a sentencing hearing that lasted more than two hours Monday morning.

Weld District Court Judge Todd Taylor weighed the options of sending Guyette to prison or to a community corrections program before ordering him to serve 10 years on supervised probation with one year on an ankle monitor. Taylor also ordered Guyette to serve 200 hours of community service.

Guyette was charged with failing to warn 14 area residents who bought millions of dollars in new Medical Capital Holdings notes that the company was already failing to pay as promised on existing notes and was heading for trouble. The company was liquidated in June 2009 to pay off investors, who have yet to get back their principle investments.

A Weld County jury convicted Guyette in August on one count of securities fraud — as a course of business — and 14 counts of securities fraud — making an untrue statement.

Lucille Linde, 94, told investigators she lost her life savings with the downfall of Medical Capital. She said in court on Monday that she is struggling to make house payments and is unable to make charitable donations like she used to because of the loss she suffered.

“John Guyette knew exactly what he was doing when he sold me this,” Linde said.

Friends and colleagues who spoke on Guyette’s behalf called him a compassionate, trustworthy, honest man. Those who addressed Taylor — including Guyette’s wife Roseanne Guyette — said Guyette has been a driving force in many local organizations, including the Rotary Club. They said he was integral in starting a Rotary Club in Saratov, Russia, where he also helped bring two ambulances and an incubator to the city’s hospital.

Elmer Burghart, who teared up as he addressed Taylor, said he’s known Guyette for more than seven years, and he’s been most impressed by Guyette’s efforts to find transportation for elderly people to get to and from appointments.

“John would never purposely mislead a person for his own gain,” Burghart said. “He simply is not that kind of person.”

Guyette said in court that he was sorry to see many of his friends and clients lose money, and he never intended to defraud anyone. He said he was sure the company would turn back around soon, so he saw no need to tell investors that they were failing to make payments.

“I just thought (disclosing that information) was irrelevant, and that was my mistake,” Guyette said.

Taylor said while Guyette may not have intentionally deceived his clients, he still failed to give them vital information to which they are entitled. Taylor said he recognizes Guyette’s contributions to his community and to others, and he did not see any merit in sending Guyette to prison or jail.

“You’re not responsible for Medical Capital’s financial woes, but you were an instrument through which Medical Capital has hurt its victims.”

Guyette said after his sentencing that he was touched by the number of people who came to his defense.

“You really don’t know how good of friends you have until you run into a situation like that,” Guyette said. “It was pretty emotional.”

He said he was grateful to be sentenced to an electronic home monitor and probation instead of prison or jail, but he’s struggling with the thought of not being allowed to do things like travel to Russia over the next decade.